Odyssey Slipways has launched a line of Star Wars-esque ships with the Old Republic Heavy Cruiser and Imperial Dreadnaught kits. At 1/10,000 scale, they're a bit bigger than most miniatures - and considerably smaller than most kits. The two kits share the same basic hull, with different antennae and rear decking distinguishing them.

Inside the sturdy cardboard boxes are four pieces of resin in two baggies and a one-page instruction sheet. No decals are provided.

The resin is smooth and obviously pressure cast. The only flaws I found were on the engine exhausts, where a couple small air bubbles had gotten trapped. Otherwise, detail is flawlessly cast. Particularly impressive are the antennas - I've rarely seen such tiny parts in resin, even from mainstream aftemarket companies like Black Box and Verlinden. Moreover, those parts were almost perfectly cast in my samples, with only the tiniest pour stubs to remove.

The instruction sheet shows a simple exploded line drawing of the ship, showing where to put the deck piece and the two antennas. Assembly should be a no-brainer, and the parts appear to fit quite nicely, so the lack of exhaustively detailed assembly instructions is no problem.

No painting instructions are provided, other than the box art. Since these are non-canon ships (as far as I know) that's no big deal -- the modeler can go wild. The basic hulls are reminiscent of those cool paintings in the starship design books I used to see in K-Mart's bargain bins during the late seventies, which should provide all the inspiration necessary if you want something other than grunge-on-grey.

Conclusions

Simple and unique - a winning combination. Table-top gamers should find these welcome additions to their fleets; they're a good size for space dioramas as well. Given what similar-sized (or smaller) metal miniatures run, $10 bucks isn't an exhorbiant price either.

Recommended for all skill levels.

Many thanks to Odyssey Slipways for providing the review sample. Manufacturers and retailers, interested in getting your wares reviewed and publicized on a site averaging 3000+ readers a day? Contact us!